Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T10:56:02.592Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The processing of multiword expressions in children and adults: An eye-tracking study of Chinese

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2020

Shang Jiang ,
Xin Jiang  and
Anna Siyanova-Chanturia Open the ORCID record for Anna Siyanova-Chanturia [Opens in a new window]
Shang Jiang
Affiliation:
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
Xin Jiang
Affiliation:
Beijing Language and Culture University
Anna Siyanova-Chanturia*
Affiliation:
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington Ocean University of China
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: anna.siyanova@vuw.ac.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The processing advantage for multiword expressions over novel language has long been attested in the literature. However, the evidence pertains almost exclusively to multiword expression processing in adults. Whether or not other populations are sensitive to phrase frequency effects is largely unknown. Here, we sought to address this gap by recording the eye movements of third and fourth graders, as well as adults (first-language Mandarin) as they read phrases varying in frequency embedded in sentence context. We were interested in how phrase frequency, operationalized as phrase type (collocation vs. control) or (continuous) phrase frequency, and age might influence participants’ reading. Adults read collocations and higher frequency phrases consistently faster than control and lower frequency phrases, respectively. Critically, fourth, but not third, graders read collocations and higher frequency phrases faster than control and lower frequency sequences, respectively, although this effect was largely confined to a late measure. Our results reaffirm phrase frequency effects in adults and point to emerging phrase frequency effects in primary school children. The use of eye tracking has further allowed us to tap into early versus late stages of phrasal processing, to explore different areas of interest, and to probe possible differences between phrase frequency conceptualized as a dichotomy versus a continuum.

Keywords

childrenChineseeye movementslanguage processingmultiword expressions
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , July 2020 , pp. 901 - 931
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbot-Smith, K., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Exemplar-learning and schematization in a usage-based account of syntactic acquisition. Linguistics Review, 23, 275–290.Google Scholar
Arnon, I., & Cohen Priva, U. (2013). More than words: The effect of multi-word frequency and constituency on phonetic duration. Language and Speech, 56, 349–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arnon, I., & Cohen Priva, U. (2014). Time and again: The changing effect of word and multiword frequency on phonetic duration for highly frequent phrases. Mental Lexicon, 9, 377–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnon, I., & Snider, N. (2010). More than words: Frequency effects for multi-word phrases. Journal of Memory and Language, 62, 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balota, D. A., & Chumbley, J. I. (1984). Are lexical decisions a good measure of lexical access? The role of the neglected decision stage. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 10, 340–357.Google ScholarPubMed
Bannard, C., & Matthews, D. (2008). Stored word sequences in language learning—The effect of familiarity on children’s repetition of four-word combinations. Psychological Science, 19, 241–248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H. J. (2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68, 255–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bates, D., Kliegl, R., Vasishth, S., & Baayen, H. (2015). Parsimonious mixed models. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.04967Google Scholar
Bates, E., Bretherton, I., & Snyder, L. (1988). From first words to grammar: Individual differences and dissociable mechanisms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bell, A., Jurafsky, D., Fosler-Lussier, E., Girand, C., Gegory, M., & Gildea, D. (2003). Effects of disfluencies, predictability, and utterance position on word form variation in English conversation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 113, 1001–1024.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
BLCU Corpus Center. (2016). Retrieved on July 7, 2018, from BCC, http://bcc.blcu.edu.cnGoogle Scholar
Bod, R. (2006). Exemplar-based syntax: How to get productivity from examples. Linguistics Review, 23, 1–30.Google Scholar
Bolinger, D. (1975). Aspects of language (2nd ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I., McNew, S., Snyder, L. E., & Bates, E. (1983). Individual differences at 20 months: Analytic and holistic strategies in language acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 10, 293–320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, R., & Hanlon, C. (1970). Derivational complexity and order of acquisition in child speech. In Hayes, J. R. (Ed.), Cognition and the development of language (pp. 11–53), New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bybee, J. (1998). The emergent lexicon. Chicago Linguistics Society, 34, 421–435.Google Scholar
Bybee, J., & Scheibman, J. (1999). The effect of usage on degrees of constituency: The reduction of Don’t in English. Linguistics, 37, 575–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrol, G., & Conklin, K. (2014). Eye-tracking multi-word units: Some methodological questions. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 7, 1–11.Google Scholar
Carrol, G., & Conklin, K. (2015). Cross language lexical priming extends to formulaic units: Evidence from eye-tracking suggests that this idea “has legs.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 299–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrol, G., & Conklin, K. (2019). Is all formulaic language created equal? Unpacking the processing advantage for different types of formulaic sequences. Language and Speech. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/0023830918823230CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrol, G., Conklin, K., & Gyllstad, H. (2016). Found in translation: The influence of the L1 on the reading of idioms in a L2. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 403–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chao, Y. R. (1976). Aspects of Chinese sociolinguistics: Essays. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Chen, L. L. (2016). Hanyu pinyin. In Chan, S-W. (Ed.), The Routledge encyclopaedia of the Chinese language (pp. 484–504). New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christiansen, M. H., & Chater, N. (1999). Toward a connectionist model of recursion in human linguistic performance. Cognitive Science, 23, 157–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chung, K. K. H., & McBride-Chang, C. (2011). Executive functioning skills uniquely predict Chinese word reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103, 909–921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, R. (1974). Performing without competence. Journal of Child Language, 1, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conklin, K., & Pellicer-Sánchez, A. (2016). Using eye-tracking in applied linguistics and second language research. Second Language Research, 32, 453–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conklin, K., Pellicer-Sánchez, A., & Carrol, G. (2018). Eye-tracking: A guide for applied linguistics research. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cruttenden, A. (1981). Item-learning and system-learning. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 10, 79–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defrancis, J., Yung Teng, C. Y., & Yung, C. S. (1968). Advanced Chinese reader. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Duyck, W., van Assche, E., Drieghe, D., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2007). Visual word recognition by bilinguals in a sentence context: Evidence for nonselective lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 663–649.Google Scholar
Elman, J. L. (1990). Finding structure in time. Cognitive Science, 14, 179–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (2006). Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gu, J., & Li, X. (2015). The effects of character transposition within and across words in Chinese reading. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 77, 272–281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hernández, M., Costa, A., & Arnon, I. (2016). More than words: Multiword frequency effects in non-native speakers. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31, 785–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hue, C. W. (2003). Number of characters a college student knows. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 31, 300–339.Google Scholar
Janssen, N., & Barber, H. A. (2012). Phrase frequency effects in language production. PLOS ONE, 7, e3302. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033202CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jiang, N., & Nekrasova, T. M. (2007). The processing of formulaic sequences by second language speakers. Modern Language Journal, 91, 433–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapatsinski, V., & Radicke, J. (2009). Frequency and the emergence of prefabs: Evidence from monitoring. In Corrigan, R., Moravcsik, E., Ouali, H., & Wheatley, K. (Eds.), Formulaic language (pp. 499– 522). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kong, L., Zhang, J. X., & Zhang, Y. (2016). Are Chinese correlative conjunctions psychologically real? An investigation of the combination frequency effect. Psychological Reports, 119, 106–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landerl, K., & Wimmer, H. (2008). Development of word reading fluency and spelling in a consistent orthography: An 8-year follow-up. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 150–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langacker, R. W. (1987). Foundations of cognitive grammar: Vol. 1. Theoretical prerequisites. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Li, W., Anderson, R. C., Nagy, W., & Zhang, H. (2002). Facets of metalinguistic awareness that contribute to Chinese literacy. In Li, W., Gaffney, J. S., & Packard, J. L. (Eds.), Chinese children’s reading acquisition: Theoretical and pedagogical issues (pp. 87–106). Boston: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Li, T., Wang, Y., Tong, X., & McBride, C. (2017). A developmental study of Chinese children’s word and character reading. Journal of Psycholinguist Research, 46, 141–155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lieven, E., Behrens, H., Speares, J., & Tomasello, M. (2003). Early syntactic creativity: A usage-based approach. Journal of Child Language, 30, 333–370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lieven, E. V. M., Pine, J. M., & Barnes, H. D. (1992). Individual differences in early vocabulary development: Redefining the referential-expressive distinction. Journal of Child Language, 19, 287–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, D., Chen, X., & Chung, K. K. H. (2015). Performance in a visual search task uniquely predicts reading abilities in third-grade Hong Kong Chinese children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 19, 307–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, P.-P., Li, W.-J., Lin, N., & Li, X.-S. (2013). Do Chinese readers follow the national standard rules for word segmentation during reading? PLOS ONE, 8, e55440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055440CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Locke, J. (1997). A theory of neurolinguistics development. Brain and Language, 58, 265–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, G., & Li, X. (2015). How character complexity modulates eye movement control in Chinese reading. Reading and Writing, 28, 747–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molinaro, N., & Carreiras, M. (2010). Electrophysiological evidence of interaction between contextual expectation and semantic integration during the processing of collocations. Biological Psychology, 83, 176–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monaghan, P., Chang, Y. N., Welbourne, S., & Brysbaert, M. (2017). Exploring the relations between word frequency, language exposure and bilingualism in a computational model of reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 93, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 149, 1–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Packard, J. L. (2000). The morphology of Chinese: A linguistic and cognitive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Packard, J. L. (2016). Chinese psycholinguistics. In Chan, S.-W. (Ed.), The Routledge encyclopaedia of the Chinese language (pp. 315–327). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Paterson, K. B., Liversedge, S. P., & Underwood, G. (1999). The influence of focus operators on syntactic processing of short relative clause sentences. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A: Human Experimental Psychology, 52A, 717–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellicer-Sánchez, A., & Siyanova-Chanturia, A. (2018). Eye movements in vocabulary research. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 169, 5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, A. M. (1977). Language learning strategies: Does the whole equal the sum of the parts? Language, 53, 560–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, A. M. (1983). Units of language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Peters, E. (2016). The learning burden of collocations: The role of interlexical and intralexical factors. Language Teaching Research, 20, 113–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierrehumbert, J. (2001). Exemplar dynamics: Word frequency, lenition and contrast. In Bybee, J. and Hopper, P. (Eds.), Frequency effects and the emergence of lexical structure (pp. 137–157). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pine, J. M., & Lieven, E. V. M. (1993). Reanalysing rote-learned phrases: Individual differences in the transition to multi-word speech. Journal of Child Language, 20, 551–571.Google ScholarPubMed
Pinker, S. (1998). Words and rules. Lingua, 106, 219–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinker, S. (1999). Words and rules: The ingredients of language. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Pinker, S., & Ullman, M. T. (2002). The past and future of the past tense. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 456–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rayner, K. (1998). Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 372–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rayner, K. (2009). The 35th Sir Frederick Bartlett Lecture: Eye movements and attention in reading, scene perception, and visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 1457–1506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, K., Li, X., Juhasz, B. J., & Yan, G. (2005). The effect of word predictability on the eye movements of Chinese readers. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12, 1089–1093.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rayner, K., Pollatsek, A., Ashby, J., & Clifton, C. Jr. (2012). Psychology of reading (2nd ed.). New York: Psychology Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, K., Sereno, S. C., Morris, R. K., Schmauder, A. R., & Clifton, C. (1989). Eye movements and on-line language comprehension processes. Language and Cognitive Processes, 4, SI21–SI49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robeck, M. C., & Wallace, R. R. (2018). The psychology of reading: An interdisciplinary approach (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Roberts, L., & Siyanova-Chanturia, A. (2013). Using eye-tracking to investigate topics in L2 acquisition and L2 processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 213–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rumelhart, D. E., & McClelland, J. L. (1986). Parallel distributed processing: Vol. 1. Foundations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shu, H., Chen, X., Anderson, R. C., Wu, N., & Xuan, Y. (2003). Properties of school Chinese: Implications for learning to read. Child Development, 74, 27–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siyanova-Chanturia, A. (2013). Eye-tracking and ERPs in multi-word expression research: A state-of-the-art review of the method and findings. Mental Lexicon, 8, 245–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., Conklin, K., Caffarra, S., Kaan, E., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2017). Representation and processing of multi-word expressions in the brain. Brain and Language, 175, 111–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., Conklin, K., & Schmitt, N. (2011). Adding more fuel to the fire: An eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speakers. Second Language Research, 27, 251–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., Conklin, K., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2011). Seeing a phrase “time and again” matters: The role of phrase frequency in the processing of multiword sequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 776–784. doi: 10.1037/a0022531Google ScholarPubMed
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., & Janssen, N. (2018). Production of familiar phrases: Frequency effects in native speakers and second language learners. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 49, 2009–2018. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000562Google Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., & van Lancker Sidtis, D. (2019). What on-line processing tells us about formulaic language. In Siyanova-Chanturia, A. & Pellicer-Sanchez, A. (Eds.), Understanding formulaic language: A second language acquisition perspective (pp. 1–15). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sonbul, S. (2014). Fatal mistake, awful mistake, or extreme mistake? Frequency effects on off-line/on-line collocational processing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 419–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sosa, A. V., & MacFarlane, J. (2002). Evidence for frequency-based constituents in the mental lexicon: Collocations involving the word of. Brain and Language, 93, 227–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SR Research Ltd. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.sr-research.comGoogle Scholar
State Language Commission. (2012). Chinese character frequency list in modern Chinese corpus. Retrieved from http://www.cncorpus.org.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M., & Brooks, P. J. (1999). Early syntactic development: A construction grammar approach. In Barrett, M. (Ed.) The development of language (pp. 161–190). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Tremblay, A., & Baayen, R. H. (2010). Holistic processing of regular four-word sequences: A behavioural and ERP study of the effects of structure, frequency, and probability on immediate free recall. In Wood, D. (Ed.), Perspectives on formulaic language: Acquisition and communication (pp. 151–173), London: Continuum International Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Tremblay, A., Derwing, B., Libben, G., & Westbury, C. (2011). Processing advantages of lexical bundles: Evidence from self-paced reading and sentence recall tasks. Language Learning, 61, 569–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, A., & Tucker, B. (2011). The effects of N-gram probabilistic measures on the recognition and production of four-word sequences. Mental Lexicon, 6, 302–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, G., Schmitt, N., & Galpin, A. (2004). The eyes have it: An eye-movement study into the processing of formulaic sequences. In Schmitt, N. (Ed.), Formulaic Sequences: Acquisition, Processing and Use (pp. 152–172), Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Vespignani, F., Canal, P., Molinaro, N., Fonda, S., & Cacciari, C. (2010). Predictive mechanisms in idiom comprehension. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22, 1682–1700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vilkaitė, L. (2016). Are nonadjacent collocations processed faster? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 1632–1642.Google Scholar
Vilkaitė, L., & Schmitt, N. (2017). Reading collocations in an L2: Do collocation processing benefits extend to non-adjacent collocations? Applied Linguistics, 40, 329–354CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei, W., Li, X., & Pollatsek, A. (2013). Word properties of a fixated region affect outgoing saccade length in Chinese reading. Visual Research, 80, 1–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Wolter, B., & Yamashita, J. (2014). Processing collocations in a second language: A case of first language activation? Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 1193–1221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, X. Y., Anderson, R. C., Li, W. L., Wu, X. C., Li, H., Zhang, J., … Gaffney, J. S. (2009). Morphological awareness and Chinese children’s literacy development: An intervention study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, 26–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, J. (2015). Corpus-based Chinese studies: A historical review from the 1920s to the present. Chinese Language and Discourse, 6, 218–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xun, E., Rao, G., Xiao, X., & Zang, J. (2016). The construction of the BCC corpus in the age of big data. Corpus Linguistics, 3, 93–118.Google Scholar
Yan, G., Tian, H., Bai, X., & Rayner, K. (2006). The effect of word and character frequency on the eye movements of Chinese readers. British Journal of Psychology, 97, 259–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yi, W., Lu, S., & Ma, G. (2017). Frequency, contingency and online processing of multiword sequences: An eye-tracking study. Second Language Research, 33, 519–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yu, L., Cutter, M. G., Yan, G., Bai, X., Fu, Y., Drieghe, D., & Liversedge, S. P. (2016). Word n+2 preview effects in three-character Chinese idioms and phrases. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31, 1130–1149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, B., & Peng, D. (1992). Decomposed storage in the Chinese lexicon. In Chen, H. C. & Tzeng, O. J. L.. (Eds.), Language processing in Chinese (Vol. 90, 1st ed., pp. 131–149). Amsterdam: North-Holland.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J., Ma, G., Li, X., & Taft, M. (2017). The time course of incremental word processing during Chinese reading. Reading and Writing. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s11145-017-9800-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar